Run
by LoveInTheEyes
Summary: Since Arya and Gendry met they have been running. Now they have finally come close to being "home", but for how long?
1. Chapter 1

**I read the second book before I saw the second season, for those who are reading this and have only seen the show, you may notice somethings may seem a little off but nothing much is changed from what happens in the show. I don't plan to put in any spoilers, for I have only read up to the 3rd book and am on the 4th at the current moment and nothing bothers me more than when I see spoilers on the internet. This story takes place after the Season 2 finale, when Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie have just escaped Harrenhal. In my story they have found their way to Riverrun. For those who read the books, you will notice that this story does not quite follow the books exactly but I've been thinking of this story for a while now and I had to write it, so I guess you could count it as a bit of an AU story but not quite, I'm just making up my own little story line here. I don't know how long I plan on it being but I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. **

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He found her in the godswood.

She was slashing violently at a heart tree, the tree's primeval eyes crying a deep red that eerily resembled blood. Gendry knew she was truly upset because she didn't even notice him watching her. He couldn't say how long he had been-mesmerized by how graceful her body moved despite her fury.

Suddenly, she sank to her knees in what Gendry thought was prayer before he realized that she was crying. He felt like an intruder, he had never seen her show so much emotion before. He took a step backwards, wanting to leave her to herself, but stepped on a twig.

She turned back and for a brief moment he saw raw sadness in her eyes before they clouded over in a scowl of anger.

"What do you want?" she asked in an accusing tone.

"To see if you were okay," he replied awkwardly. "I'll leave now if you'd like"

Gendry turned around and was walking away when Arya called out his name.

"Thank you." She said and wiped her eyes.

There was a certain softness in her voice that he wasn't used to. She was tired and emotionally drained, he knew that, but there was something different in her that puzzled Gendry.

Gendry looked back at the heart tree that she had been attacking. The slashes she had made looked like nothing on the ancient, gnarled bark.

"Stupid tree," Arya said stubbornly and tossed her sword to the side. Swinging her legs around, she got into a comfortable sitting position in between the roots of the tree.

She looked like she belonged there. Her hair was falling out of the short ponytail her mother's maids had put it in and her face filthy. She had kicked her shoes off at some point, or lost them, it made no matter, her feet were dirty and her tunic ripped. The job her mother had done in cleaning her up obviously was at a loss now.

Once they had arrived in Riverrun her mother had ordered a team of servants to clean Arya up and get her properly dressed right away. She had agreed to bathing and getting her hair pulled back but she would not agree to the dress they had tried to put on her, so they settled for a tunic and a pair of trousers.

Lady Catelyn's men had wanted to put Gendry and Hot Pie in a servant's chamber but Arya insisted that they be put in a proper bed chamber, for they had accompanied her as friends and should be treated like friends. Gendry was not looking forward to sharing a bed with Hot Pie but the bedroom was finer than any place he had ever slept before so he didn't complain.

Gendry walked to where Arya was sitting and sat down next to her. She had stopped crying but she stared blankly at the ground. Gendry wished he knew what to say to her, he couldn't imagine what she was feeling.

After they had arrived in Riverrun and got cleaned up, Gendry, Hot Pie and Arya were served dinner in their bed chambers. Arya was spending time with her mother but Lady Catelyn had called for Gendry to join them, she wanted to hear of everything that had happened to the both of them since they had left King's Landing with Yoren on their way to The Wall and how they had ended up in Harrenhal.

When they were done telling their story, Lady Catelyn was crying and hugging Arya again and then she told Arya the news that her two younger brothers, Bran and Rickon, had been killed by Theon Greyjoy and that Winterfell had burned down. Gendry was at a loss for words when she had told them and Arya immediately got up and ran out of the room. Soon after Gendry had found her here in the godswood.

They sat in silence for a while, side by side, their arms just barely touching, before she looked up at the weirwood trees around her and said "these are the Old Gods. The gods of my father. I was brought up worshiping both the Seven and the Old Gods,"

Gendry had lived in King's Landing as a smithy, and was brought up worshiping the Seven himself, but he couldn't deny that the Old Gods had a certain power while he was sitting amongst them.

"But neither the Old Gods or the New helped my brothers and my father," Arya said and turned her grey eyes towards Gendry. "Do you believe in any gods?"

Gendry turned his head away from her cold, hard stare, looking up towards the branches above him. "I believe there's something." He said simply.

Arya shook her head and wriggled her toes in the dirt.

"My brother will kill him," She said suddenly. "My brother is strong and Theon is a coward. Robb will be a just king."

Gendry nodded a silent agreement and they went back to sitting in silence. Gendry couldn't imagine what was going through Arya's mind. She had to be torn apart inside, how hard it must be to finally make her way back to her family only to find out that her family had been killed. She had killed men, seen men killed, watched her father beheaded and not even escaping to her family could offer her any comfort.

For only a girl of 15 she had gone through way too much.

He wanted to keep her mind off of everything so he resorted to the usual teasing that went on amongst them.

"You don't look very lady-like," Gendry said laughingly "with your ripped clothes and loose hair." He reached out and tugged at one of her loose strands.

"Hey!" she yelped and smacked his hand away.

He laughed and reached his other hand out to tickle her, she was fast though and she rolled away from him, her tunic ripping more as it got caught on a root. She shrugged it off, now only in an undershirt. She stood with a stick in hand, facing him sideways in a fighting stance.

Gendry sat back on his knees. "Oh come on _m'lady_," he laughed "this isn't very proper behavior. Your lady mother would not approve."

That seemed to make her mad for she flung herself at him, forgetting her stick, she threw both hands onto his chest. He fell backwards, Arya lying atop his chest. She quickly sat up, attempting to pin him down. He made no attempt to resist.

"You know I could easily over power you." Gendry said.

"Then why don't you?" she had his hands pinned beneath him, she was holding his elbows to the ground, her face lowered close to his when they heard a rustling and she sprang off of him.

Lady Catelyn appeared in the clearing. Her eyes widened at the scene, Arya in her undershirt, Gendry sprawled on the ground. "What are you two doing? Getting into trouble if I know this one here" she said, nodding to Arya.

Gendry stood up quickly, brushing dry leaves out of his hair and dirt from his clothes.

"I'm sorry m'lady," he mumbled and did a quick little bow to Lady Catelyn.

Lady Catelyn gave him a curt nod before turning to Arya.

"We just had you bathed and properly dressed and you've already gotten yourself dirty," Lady Catelyn scolded before her face became soft and she laughed. "I trust that neither of you got into trouble."

"I'm sorry mother," Arya said gathering her torn tunic and sword.

"Pay it no mind; we will have you bathed again when we return to the castle. First, I must inform you of one other very important matter," her tone suddenly serious.

Arya looked unsurely at her mother, then Gendry.

"Robb was to make a Frey girl his queen… and you were to marry as well, to a Frey."

Arya froze.

"You are to marry in less than a year's time I would believe. You have come of age, you're 15 and very well ready to wed. Once you turn 16 we must do this."

"No." Arya said, looking up angrily at her mother. "NO!" she yelled, "I will not be sold to some blithering idiot of a man like... like some common whore!"

"Arya, you are not to speak to me that way." Lady Catelyn said sternly, "And you are to marry, this is not negotiable, it was part of a deal that we cannot afford to break, Robb has already broken his promise and asked a woman that is not a Frey to be his wife. This is imperative if we hope to keep the Freys as allies."

Arya turned her head away from them both.

"We will find you someone who is fair and kind, and has courage," Lady Catelyn urged, "Please, Arya, you must understand."

Arya shook her head angrily, still refusing to look at either of them.

"Do it for your brother, I beg you. Do it for your king."


	2. Chapter 2

**So I haven't written in forever, I know. I wasn't really sure where I was going with this story. I didn't really even know how to continue. I recently had inspiration though and decided to go on and write more. I didn't have has much time to edit this chapter so I'm sure there will be a few mistakes in there that I'm going to go back and fix at some point. In this story Arya is older for the sake of the story, and Gendry is around 18/19. I finished all of the books in the series so far. I'm going to do my best to not give any spoilers, so this story is definitely going to veer a bit from the real story line. I hope you enjoy this chapter, reviews would mean the world to me! **

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They had put Gendry to work in the forge soon after they arrived in Riverrun. That was where he was when Arya came wandering in, dressed in a simple deep gray gown and fur cloak. In the weeks that had followed her first arrival in Riverrun Arya had allowed her mother to dress her in simple gowns. It had taken sometime for her to finally accept to meet the Frey boy who was to be her husband. Gendry was shocked that she agreed at all.

He wasn't quite sure how to cope with it at all. Part of him knew to expect something like this to happen at some point in her future, Gendry just never thought it would be too soon. What would he do when Arya was wed? Surely he couldn't follow her to the Twins, and he wasn't quite sure what he would do without the young girl he had spent the last year on the run with.

"What are you doing down here?" Gendry asked, not looking up from his work. "I thought your future Lord husband is arriving today?"

Arya rolled her eyes. "One of his riders was sent, said that he would be delayed until sundown, we're to expect him for dinner."

Gendry let out a snort. "How lordly, showing up late to meet his wife."

"We're not married yet." Arya shot back, confused as to why Gendry was being so strange.

Gendry didn't say anything, still staring at the sword he was sharpening. He was unsure himself of why he was feeling so angry all of the sudden.

"It doesn't matter; I didn't come here to talk about the dumb marriage." Arya continued, sitting down on a work bench.

"What did you come here to discuss then, m'lady." Gendry replied.

"I don't plan on going to the Twins."

Gendry stopped his work and raised his eyes to hers. "You can't be serious, how are you going to manage that."

"I want to convince my Lady Mother to send men back to Winterfell and restore it, where I will hold the seat until Robb wins the war. I want you to come with me."

"She'll never go for that, Winterfell is leagues away and burned down."

"Yes, but it has to be restored. And a Frey could never dream of being the seat to Winterfell. There must always be a Stark in Winterfell my father used to say," Arya's voice broke and for a moment Gendry thought she was about to cry when she continued "now that my brothers are dead and Sansa still a hostage, it's up to me to be that Stark.

Gendry didn't know what to say. "And you want me to come with you?"

"Well of course, you've stuck with me this far. You're the only friend I have left," Arya said, looking at her feet which she was digging into the dirt floor of the forge. "And I'm sure we'll need as many smiths as possible."

Gendry didn't say anything, just simply shrugged and went back to work.

They sat in silence for a bit, Arya watching him work when Gendry looked up and saw that Arya had moved to his side. He turned to ask her what she wanted when suddenly she was embracing him, her head resting against his chest. The words stopped in his mouth as he stood stunned, before he wrapped his arms around her.

"Thank you for sticking with me." She whispered so quietly it was barely audible.

"Of course." Was all Gendry could think to say.

She pulled away from him and smoothed out her dress.

"Well, I should be going before my mother comes looking for me. I think I'll go speak with her actually."

With that she was gone, leaving Gendry surprised and even more so, confused. He never thought she would be the one to accept her fate so willingly. Perhaps this was a side to the little girl he had thought she once was, perhaps this was the grown woman that he had refused to see.

She didn't seem a little girl to him anymore. A woman flowered, he had tried not to notice her chest as it blossomed, her hips as they widened. Always he had seen her as a child, a little sister, a girl that needed protecting. Now he wasn't so sure. Whatever he was feeling he couldn't let it get to him. She was to be married, and he was a bastard born blacksmith.

He wasn't sure what to make of the embrace. Shrugging it off as a simple hug, he went back to work, trying hard not to think of what would happen at sundown when Arya met the man that was to be her husband.

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Arya was still dressed in the wool dress though she had taken off her cloak when she knocked on the door to her mother's chamber. Lady Catelyn opened the door and let Arya in immediately, motioning for her to sit.

"As I'm sure you know, Leobald Frey is to be here by sundown." Lady Catelyn began "I found this dress; it was once mine when I was just a girl. I've had it tailored for you."

Arya looked at the dress. It was made of fine silk, dyed a light blue. Intricate silver beading lined the bodice, it's skirts had dark blue thread woven into it giving it a beautiful design.

"It's beautiful mother," Arya said "However, I came to speak to you about this marriage."

"Oh Arya, I had thought we were over you trying to convince me not to marry you. You know what must be done, it's your duty to your family-"

"No, no. It's not that. I was just thinking. What if instead of me going back to live at the Twins we send men back to Winterfell?"

"That's not possible Arya, it's been burned, demolished…"

"I know but what if we restored it. A Stark must always be in Winterfell and I'm being married to a son of Lord Walder Frey who could never dream of being the seat to Winterfell or even the seat to the Twins for that matter. They can't deny it; it would be stupid of them. While Robb is fighting a war and Sansa's hostage and, and well… there's just no one else to hold Winterfell. That's Robb's seat, it needs to be upheld."

Lady Catelyn was silent for a moment as she thought of what Arya was suggesting.

"When he arrives we shall discuss this and see what he thinks of this plan. If he agrees we will share it with Lord Walder Frey when we travel to the Twins for your marriage."

Arya beamed at her mother. Her plan had worked.

"Now go to your chambers and begin getting ready. We have a meeting to prepare for."

**Disclaimer: No characters are mine, it's just my play on their relationship. All credit goes to George R R Martin and his wonderful series. **


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